HelloAngel

By Jason Hernandez



Who would pay $8,000 for an obsolete, hand-painted East German automobile that has a top speed of 66 miles per hour? A U2 fan, of course.

Eight thousand dollars, that’s the current price (http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=141970) on one of the famous Trabants, similar to those that adorned the stage of U2’s ZooTV Tour. An authentic Trabant may be the most coveted U2 collectible of all time, with the possible exception of Bono’s lyrics for “October” which were stolen while on the “Boy” tour.

EIL.com, the Web site selling the rare collectible describes itself as, “The world's biggest online Record Shop for new, rare, collectible, used and hard to find CDs, vinyl records, … promos… and music memorabilia.” The Trabant, according to EIL, was acquired from a contest on BBC Radio 1's “Achtung Baby! Day” breakfast show, hosted by Simon Mayo. EIL purchased the vehicle from the contest winner over five years ago, and since then it has been in storage. If you’re interested in buying the Trabant, you can pick it up from EIL headquarters in England or you can inquire about special delivery options. For additional information on this collectible visit EILl’s Trabant page at http://eil.com/features/trabant.asp.


(Photo: EIL.com)

During most of the ZooTV tour, the band used six Trabants for lighting and a seventh was placed in the center of the arena as a sound booth for DJs to entertain the crowd. The seventh Trabant was the glitzy “Liberace” Trabant, so named by the U2 crew because thousands of tiny mirrors were affixed to the auto’s exterior. Since the end of the tour, five of the posh Trabants have hung, as they once did on stage, in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. One of the extravagant props has been displayed in the Hard Rock Café in Berlin. That makes the remaining few autos highly desirable collectibles.

U2 purchased each Trabant for only $300. For the tour, the vehicles were equipped with $10,000 worth of lighting equipment, and of course, a new paint job.

So, why a Trabant? “Because BMWs are too expensive,” reasoned Willie Williams, the U2 set director who had the idea of using the cars to light the stage. But in all seriousness, the band fell in love with the boxy, mass-produced East German cars while they were recording much of “Achtung Baby” in Berlin. Some have speculated that the cars symbolized the collapse of European Communism. According to Bono, the reason for using the cars was much more visceral, “All those television sets and Trabants were definitely boy toys.”

The tiny automobiles served as props and a canvas to raise social awareness of HIV/AIDS. One of the Trabants blissfully declares, “Smell the roses while you can.” The automobiles were painted by Catherine Owens in the form of a tribute to other artists, like Keith Haring and artist/AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz, both of whom died of AIDS in the early '90s. In keeping with that message, proceeds from the song “One” from “Achtung Baby” were donated for AIDS research.

If you can’t afford an actual Trabant, you may consider purchasing an inflatable substitute. The 2-by-3 foot inflatable version of the real thing is intermittently available on auction sites like eBay and sells for about $80-100. At press time, the inflatable Trabant was not available on eBay. The inflatable Trabant is an official collector’s item that was released by Island Records and reportedly fewer than 500 were made.

The Trabbis are certainly one of the most recognizable U2 props of all time, having appeared in Anton Corbijn's "One" video. One of the autos featured in the video is decorated with a Picasso-esque naked woman and was the inspiration for the inflatable collector’s item. The cars also appear on the “Achtung Baby” CD liner notes.

Even the most dedicated U2 collector may not be able to purchase their own Trabant. Just remember that East Germans waited up to 12 years to get a Trabant and actually used them for transportation. The inflatable version is a fair substitute, but is it better than the real thing? Hardly.


Ed. Note: This article is for information purposes only. Interference.com does not endorse statements made by any auction sites or sellers.


Information for this article was gathered from eBay.com, eil.com, fan site @U2.com, Wikipedia, AutoWeek, The Boston Globe and The Sun.

dsmith2904

In response to a member reply posted here, this article has been slightly edited. We apologize for any innacuracies.

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